It doesn’t help that some of the logical beats are completely nonsensical too, even from the past storyline perspective. There’s an amusing rationale for Amelie’s reasoning behind her marriage to Ned which feels like mental gymnastics at times, with Amelie’s moral compass skewed throughout the story. As an example of this, at one point Amelie justifies murder and violence as viable options to survive, but another time she absolutely abhors the concept of her friends thinking of her as a gold digger. As if being a murderer is… better?

While I still struggled with some inconsistencies, partially predicted the reveal, and didn’t love the open ending, a few surprises along the way helped raise my rating to a 3.5. While this is a true 3.5 star book for me, Goodreads forces me to round one way or the other, so I will give this one the benefit of the doubt since I mostly enjoyed it. However, this was forced drama and way over-the-top. I usually love over-the-top, that's sort of my brand. Even things that are fairly unbelievable, but for some reason the tone of this, the feel of some of the circumstances, just did not work for me.For Amelie is determined to get out of this alive and alone. Her strength of will has seen her through years of taking care of her dying dad before living rough on the streets. How far will she go to protect herself this time, and what truths will she uncover in the process? Characters flit from place to place to serve the plot. Conversational exchanges happen that would NEVER happen in real life. Though the chapters are short and I was still able to blow through this in a few days, it was somewhat of a torturous experience. I kept wanting there to be emotional depth, surprising reveals, ANYTHING to make it make sense and make it seem like the plot was truly going somewhere interesting... but that never happened. Although this was not my favorite by B.A. Paris, I will happily read more of her books in the future. Amelie is kidnapped with her husband and kept a prisoner in a dark room with no idea why or who is behind it. The short chapters and alternating timeline kept the pace of this novel clipping along and the narrator of the audiobook was great. I also liked the spunk and bravery displayed by Amelie as the story progressed.

The Breakdown is the second book from B.A. Paris. It starts out with a woman named Cass Anderson who is trying to come to terms with something she saw in a rural road in the middle of a storm. That’s when she first saw the woman sitting in a car in the woods– the same woman who was killed. She can’t tell her husband Matthew about it, because he would be mad that she took the shortcut home even though she promised not to. She might even have been hurt if she had stopped. The main character in The Breakdown is Cass Anderson. She’s spooked by something she saw driving in the woods while going home– and now that woman is dead and she can’t get it out of her mind. Now things are getting weird, and she’s not sure who it is that is calling her at night. Is it the ghost of the woman who died– or someone else entirely? Plot line is unique: a young woman married with a billionaire is kidnapped with her husband but being prisoner in a dark room is far better than her imprisonment of marriage!It all started with the loss of her parents: her mother at a young age, and Papa more recently, to a terrible illness. After moving from Paris to London, Amelie tries to forge ahead with her adult life and process her grief...until she happens to meet a woman named Carolyn (quite randomly) who THEN gets her somehow entangled with playboy billionaire Ned Hawthorne, whose father has a well-known foundation. When Ned presents her with an interesting proposition that will end in marriage, it seems like all of Amelie's dreams are coming true at once and a new and exciting life is just around the corner...so why now does her imprisonment seem like her ONLY hope for escape? Claustrophobic, menacing and relentlessly tense, this is a fiendishly plotted thriller with a great central twist' SARAH VAUGHAN This book was also a bit less predictable. The ending caught me by surprise (no spoilers here), which I always enjoy. It may have felt a bit longer than it should have, and I would have liked the parts integrated a bit more, BUT it was overall a good book. I will definitely give B.A. Paris another shot with future books. There's plenty of guessing and twists in this story of obsession that will leave readers wondering who to trust."— Parkersburg News and Sentinel B.A. Paris was born in Surrey, England, in 1958 to a French mother and Irish father. She is the third of 6 children, including 4 brothers and a sister. After completing her education, she moved to France, where she worked as a trader in an international bank in Paris for several years. During this time, she met her husband, with whom she now has 5 daughters. They eventually left the world of finance to set up a language school together.

I loved the short chapters in part one, which really added to the rising tension. You will be rooting for Amelie!’ PRIMA Amelie Lamont is a young soul wrapped in responsibilities. She's been burdened with the care of her alcoholic father who is dying of cancer. Her mother passed away when Amelie was a child. After her father's death, Amelie leaves Paris and heads for London. At sixteen, she doesn't have many options. It is her hope to earn enough money to continue her education. Paris skilfully stitches together domestic noir with a kidnap thriller and the result is a gripping read' DAILY EXPRESS While I enjoyed the book, I didn't quite love it. I found it to be entertaining and was invested in it all the way to the end. Amelie was a character to root for which I did. Like other reviewers, I found the ending to be what dragged my rating down. The ending lost a little of what made me enjoy the book in the beginning. The book was a solid 4 for me going into the ending. Life is perfect for Amelie...right? Far from it!! In the present, we find out that she's in fact being held prisoner by someone. In a tiny, dank, dark room by herself, in complete isolation being fed only two meals daily by a masked man. Who could she possibly have upset enough to deserve being held in captivity, as a prisoner for days, weeks, and possibly even months??

What to Read Next

Perhaps my expectations were set too high for this title, and I look forward to listening to this author's future releases. Ultimately, The Prisoner is not a thriller to remember and unfortunately, just about scrapes the annals of mediocrity. But this ill-fated decision throws Amelie into the worst month of her life full of isolation, lies, murder, and of course, being kidnapped. The prisoner. In the end, this story didn't work for me. The plot holes were hard to overlook, too much explaining was going on and the boring characters made me feel like the prisoner. The positive attributes of the book absolutely surpassed the negative ones so I decided to round up 3.5 stars to 4 claustrophobic, dark, twisty, thought provoking stars!

Pacy, gripping from the get-go, and with so many twists! I felt so strongly for Amelie and was rooting for her the entire book. The Prisoner is a brilliant addition to BA Paris's stella stable of thrillers' L.V. MATTHEWS All the male characters were practically indistinguishable from one another. I was almost at the end and one of them was mentioned and I thought, who the hell is that? It took me completely out of the story. I'm still confused about who he was and he played a pivotal role in the plot. Audio Review: Georgia Maguire is a new-to-me narrator, but one I will certainly watch out for in the future! At ten hours long this audiobook was an average length, but I was too excited by the story to press pause and flew right through it. BA Paris is a talented author who is highly skilled in masterfully orchestrating compelling psychological thrillers.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I would say that if you’ve already read some of Paris’s books, I don’t think your opinion of those will necessarily be indicative of whether or not you like this one. In the Past, Amelie, orphaned at 16, naive and gullible, takes herself to London after her Papa’s death, and manages to get herself a job as a live-in housekeeper/cook after following a woman home from a coffee shop. (Really?) Thank you to NetGalley, B.A. Paris, and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced reader’s copy of The Prisoner, publishing November 1, 2022! Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a career for herself in the magazine industry, she meets, and agrees to marry, Ned Hawthorne.